By John Denton
March 23, 2017

ORLANDO – Looking for any way possible to get Mario Hezonja more reps and find him a comfort zone on the floor, the Orlando Magic played him at power forward on Wednesday and he responded with a season-best seven rebounds.

However, the night – just like many of them before the experiment at power forward – was something of a puzzling struggle for the second-year forward.

The 22-year-old Hezonja got off to a stellar start by drilling his first 3-point shot and he stayed aggressive throughout Orlando’s 109-102 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. There were other highlights as he grabbed six of his seven rebounds on the defensive glass, his defense on Marvin Williams (seven points) was solid and his feed to Bismack Biyombo for a dunk that put Orlando up six early in the fourth quarter was a thing of beauty.

The problem, however, was that the 6-foot-8, 220-pounder made just three of 12 shots and connected on only two of five 3-point tries. What bothered him most was that most of the misses – the 15-foot pull-up, the lefty layup where he was expecting more contact and the wide-open corner 3-pointer – were shots that he’s made his entire basketball career in Croatia, Spain and the NBA.

The rough shooting night took some of the shine off an otherwise positive experiment with Hezonja at a new position. Also, it dropped his shooting percentages to 35.4 percent overall and 29.9 percent from 3-point range. Not long after the final horn, Hezonja went to the video replay of the game to diagnose what went wrong. One diagnosis: All the extra practice that he’s been putting in on his shot lately might have proven counterproductive.

``I know what the reason was for (Wednesday’s) misses – I was shooting too many (practice shots) and I was sore as (heck),’’ said Hezonja, who is averaging 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 13.5 minutes a game. ``I was asking myself, `How am I going to finish this shot because I have no energy or power or anything?

``Keep shooting. As I said (last season), it’s going to go in,’’ Hezonja said, referring to how he can get himself out of a shooting slump. ``I’m too good of a shooter to do so much missing and being inconsistent.’’

With the Magic (26-46) heading into Friday’s home game against the slumping Detroit Pistons (34-38), head coach Frank Vogel wants to continue the experiment of trying to play Hezonja at both forward positions. Injuries to Aaron Gordon (sore left hip) and Jeff Green (back spasms) have both of those forwards questionable to play on Friday – something that could free up playing time for Hezonja.

Vogel is a big believer in the many talents of Hezonja, the fifth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft. He wants to keep finding ways to get him on the floor more over the final 10 games of the season. Because Hezonja has the size, the willingness to play with physicality and the 3-point shot, Vogel sees him as the perfect fit as a stretch-forward in today’s brand of small-ball offenses.

``He’s got good size and when you have his length you can see over the defense and he does a good job of making pocket passes,’’ Vogel said. ``The fact that you have to honor his shot, most of his screen-roll and pin-down action create those passing lanes. There’s something with him there that could be good for us.

``Offensively, the (power forwards) in this league are playing like (small forwards) and even like point guards in some ways,’’ Vogel continued. ``The fact that he’s been a perimeter player should help him play this position without having to make a major adjustment.’’

Vogel played Hezonja at reserve power forward on Wednesday because Green was out with back spasms. Green and Gordon didn’t practice on Thursday and their availability for Friday will most likely be game-time decisions.

Hezonja liked the switch in positions, saying that he’s happy as long as he’s on the floor. He’s averaged just 13.5 minutes a game this season, so he’s all for anything that gets him additional playing time. And he stressed that he’s not afraid to mix it up on the inside – something that was proven by the seven rebounds.

``It was amazing for me,’’ Hezonja said. ``I had moments of mistakes, and I was talking to the assistant coaches about how they felt about it, but it felt amazing to me and I have no problems with it.’’

As for his shot, Hezonja believes it’s just a matter of time before he finds his range and connects with the success that he’s had throughout his playing career. In 31 games in the Spanish ACB League in 2014-15, Hezonja made 39.2 percent of his 3-point shots. In 22 Euroleague games that same season, he connected on 38.2 percent of his threes. And in 20 ACB games in 2013-14, Hezonja was a 39.5 percent 3-point shooter.

Some of the shooting numbers that have piled up on him this season have been admittedly baffling. He’s a much better 3-point shooter on the road (35.5 percent) than at home (23.6 percent) and he’s also been more accurate from three in losses (33.3 percent) than in wins (18.5 percent).

As for the kinds of shots that Hezonja is taking, he’s yet to find his niche with catch-and-shoot attempts (32.3 percent from 3-point range), pull-up shots (30.9 percent overall), guarded 3-pointers (23.8 percent) and 3-pointers considered to be open (30.2 percent) and wide-open (33.3 percent).

Vogel feels that Hezonja just needs more reps and more time on the floor – whether he’s playing power forward or small forward – and eventually things will come more naturally to him.

``I thought he looked really good. He missed a couple of (layups), but he did some really good things,’’ Vogel said. ``We’ll see how it plays out, but (power forward) could be a position that’s really good for him.

``I feel like sometimes he’s going too fast – not the game – and he’s got to slow himself down,’’ Vogel added. ``He tends to press a little bit, but that’s not the worst thing for a young kid – to play too hard – and he has a really good motor. He plays extremely hard and part of young players growing is learning how to settle themselves down.’’

When it comes to basketball, Hezonja is a deep thinker who regularly analyzes everything from the rotation of his shot, to his potential position matchup to his place on the team with his teammates. He regularly returns to the Magic’s practice facility at night to get up extra shots – something he often does in solitude because ``we don’t play games with music.’’ If it’s meant that his spot on the Magic is at power forward as opposed to small forward, Hezonja said he is more than capable of making that adjustment to a position that requires more of physicality.

``(Opposing power forwards) are crashing and they think they have an advantage on us because they feel we’re playing small, so you have to be more physical and more aggressive. If you attack them, they’ll back down,’’ he said with a sly smile. ``I like to play physical. I was thinking about the best (power forwards) in the league and comparing myself to them. I was trying to figure out the space that I can attack them and where they are going to attack me. So, it’s all good stuff for me there.’’